http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/3706
Now, first, this movie is easily just the latest movie to capitalize on the demand for Lord of the Rings/Gladiator style movies. Though, these are always fun (in my opinion the best one of the copycat films so far is either King Arthur or Kingdom of Heaven). There are a lot of them coming out in recent times. It looks like it could be fun.
Historically, this film looks terrible: it does not take a genius to see that this is obviously NOT how the battle of Thermopylae was fought =P
First of all, there were not only 300 Spartans on the field (as the trailer seems to indicate), there were about 7000 Greeks altogether including 300 Spartans. They used their superior military formations and position to hold back the Persians. The Greeks used the phallanx maneuver which essentially has all the shields pressed together in the front along with shields blocking above, and spears through the gaps that they can attack the enemy with. The Persians, essentially could not get through. A spy revealed a passage way around the back, and so it is likely at this point that most of the Greeks retreated; it does not make sense that the King would simply dismiss most of his army. Though of the ones that remained, all 300 Spartans were accounted for.
Even though the enemy was now able to sneak around the back, the greeks still had a superior position, and therefore delt heavy damage to the Persian forces. The Persians killed all of the Greeks in the end.
The movie claims 1 million Persians, though this is grossly innacurate. First of all, even by tradition, this number is incorrect. The number of Persians mentioned was 1.7 million in the Greek myths. The actual number is debated, but was probably between 60,000 and 120,000. Ancients love to blow their numbers way out of proportion. It makes little sense that armies decreased as populations skyrocketed; during the time of the Roman Empire, when records were much more accurate, the military numbers never reached anywhere near the numbers that Greeks often say fought in battles; and the Romans had the largest and most highly populated empire that history had ever seen at this point; and were also militaristic.
Of course, no one can say for sure how large the numbers were. We do not have enough evidence, all is just educated speculation.
Anyways, I didn't mean to go on this long:
The movie looks like it might be fun =)
Now, first, this movie is easily just the latest movie to capitalize on the demand for Lord of the Rings/Gladiator style movies. Though, these are always fun (in my opinion the best one of the copycat films so far is either King Arthur or Kingdom of Heaven). There are a lot of them coming out in recent times. It looks like it could be fun.
Historically, this film looks terrible: it does not take a genius to see that this is obviously NOT how the battle of Thermopylae was fought =P
First of all, there were not only 300 Spartans on the field (as the trailer seems to indicate), there were about 7000 Greeks altogether including 300 Spartans. They used their superior military formations and position to hold back the Persians. The Greeks used the phallanx maneuver which essentially has all the shields pressed together in the front along with shields blocking above, and spears through the gaps that they can attack the enemy with. The Persians, essentially could not get through. A spy revealed a passage way around the back, and so it is likely at this point that most of the Greeks retreated; it does not make sense that the King would simply dismiss most of his army. Though of the ones that remained, all 300 Spartans were accounted for.
Even though the enemy was now able to sneak around the back, the greeks still had a superior position, and therefore delt heavy damage to the Persian forces. The Persians killed all of the Greeks in the end.
The movie claims 1 million Persians, though this is grossly innacurate. First of all, even by tradition, this number is incorrect. The number of Persians mentioned was 1.7 million in the Greek myths. The actual number is debated, but was probably between 60,000 and 120,000. Ancients love to blow their numbers way out of proportion. It makes little sense that armies decreased as populations skyrocketed; during the time of the Roman Empire, when records were much more accurate, the military numbers never reached anywhere near the numbers that Greeks often say fought in battles; and the Romans had the largest and most highly populated empire that history had ever seen at this point; and were also militaristic.
Of course, no one can say for sure how large the numbers were. We do not have enough evidence, all is just educated speculation.
Anyways, I didn't mean to go on this long:
The movie looks like it might be fun =)
-Insert Inspiring Quote-
Look at the link Sephy posted, this was heavily based off a comic, including the stuff you're complaining about.
